What The Government Cant Do For You: fire

Showing posts with label fire. Show all posts

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Will U.S. Troops Fire On American Citizens?

Who would believe that in the year 2012 one would have to ask if the U.S. Military would fire on American Citizen’s?

FORT MCCOY, WI – JUNE 18: U.S. Army reserve Specialist William Bagley (front) of Fall River, Massachusetts serving with the 888th Transportation Control Detachment out of Providence, Rhode Island pretends to be mortally wounded as his fellow soldiers return small-arms fire after their vehicle was hit by a simulated improvised explosive device (IED) during training in the Patriot Warrior exercise June 18, 2006 at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. About 4000 reserve soldiers are participating in the 21 day exercise which is designed to prepare the units for deployment within the next two years. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

by Avalon & Shepard Ambellas
Intellihub.com
April 28, 2013

The question of troop involvement in a possible upcoming Martial Law scenario that is being predicted is no imaginary possibility – nor is it a ‘conspiracy theory’.

Other tough questions are being discussed such as, “Will the U.S. government confiscate Gold and Silver in an economic collapse?” and “Will there be a round-up of American Citizens to be put into FEMA Camps?”

Many believe that the United Nations will be given authority to step in to keep the peace in any civil unrest or economic collapse. This is a strong possibility.

Silver: The Achilles Heal – Physical Silver is a Stake in the Heart of the Financial Vampires (Ad)

Readers should be familiar with the term ‘Hidden In Plain Sight’. How this applies to the United Nations is simple.

The United Nations main purpose is to be the centerpiece of the coming World Government that will control nearly of aspect of the global population.

For years their military strength has grow as they are now increasingly tasked with upholding law and order in conflicts around the world.

Research into the U.N and prove to yourself that this is or isn’t the case. The U.N. is the governing body of The New World Order – Hidden In Plain Sight.

Investigate their corporate operation as well as the growing number of sites they control and you will discover they now even own the World Weather Service.

An update to this article will list the number of organizations that the United Nations has established, you will be amazed.

A recent Senate Armed Services Committee conference with Sen. Sessions and the Pentagon’s Leon Panetta clearly shows that the United Nations would be involved in authorizing Military Action in Iran, similar to the Libya and Iraq invasions.

Two of the most widely known United Nations programs are Agenda 21 and Codex Alimentarius.

These are beyond the scope of this article but one other program is of significance which is the U.N. Rapid Deployment Police.

The United Nations Rapid Deployment Police and Security Force Act of 2001(House Resolution 938) Status of H.R. 938 CosponsorsThe United Nations Rapid Deployment Police and Security Force (H.R. 938) was introduced on March 8, 2001 by Representatives James McGovern (D-MA) and Amo Houghton (R-NY) in the House of Representatives. The legislation calls upon the President to use the United States’ “voice, vote, and influence” to urge the UN:

to establish a United Nations Rapid Deployment Police and Security Force (Police and Security Force) that can be quickly dispatched under the authority of the UN Security Council; to recruit volunteer personnel for the force; and to provide equitable and reliable funding for the Police and Security Force.

Additionally, the legislation calls upon the President to:

urge UN member nations to enter into regional partnerships for the purpose of forming Rapid Deployment Brigades, made up of on-call units of national forces, capable of deploying within 30 days of a Security Council resolution;

and direct the Secretary of Defense to undertake a study to determine the availability of and feasibility of using U.S. forces as part of the rapid deployment brigades.

What would the Police and Security Force do? It would:

be able to deploy within 15 days of a Security Council resolution to establish international peace operations, with a limited deployment of no more than six months for any given mission;

only be deployed when the Security Council determines that violations of human rights and/or breaches of the peace require a rapid response to ensure adherence to negotiated agreements to prevent or end hostilities;

consist of at least 6,000 volunteers employed directly by the UN, who train together and are appropriately equipped expressly for international peace operations, including civilian policing; and

be given the authority to protect itself, execute negotiated peace accords, disarm combatants, protect civilians, detain war criminals, restore the rule of law, and to carry out other purposes as detailed in Security Council resolutions.

Many readers will recall the survey given to U.S. Marines at the 29 Palms Marine Corps base in California.

The survey asked the respondents to consider the following statement: “I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the United States government.”

The current situation is even more alarming, for example:

The passing of the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which THEBLAZE covers in an article titled, “Can the ‘Indefinite Detention’ Bill Send Americans to Military Prison Without Trial?” (12-08-11) has caused even the most skeptic to be concerned for their personal safety – especially those fighting for liberty.

The National Defense Resources Preparedness: Comparing Previous Executive Orders article that intellihub.com posted online is another example of the emergence of a Fascist Police State taking complete control.

Lastly, the purchase by the Department of Homeland Security of 450,000,000 rounds of ammunition over a five year period should be warning enough that something is definitely wrong.

Who are these rounds to be used on? Even at 80,000,000 rounds per year, that’s one bullet for every dissenter at a minimum.

The fact that the United Nations is the unelected yet-to-be Global Government should be warning enough that the United States of America is in great peril. The only intelligent thing to do is… PREPARE.

There is also the chance that the powers that be will play out a pandemic type scenario in which the military will receive orders from the top brass to quarantine US citizens.

This scenario may be the most probable – let’s entertain it.

It would likely go something like this:

A loudspeaker (megaphone) attached to a UN (United Nations) van passing through a middle-class neighborhood resinates a pre-recorded message,

“This neighborhood has been declared a pandemic zone… Pandemic level 6 martial law is now in place… Please stay in your homes as a quarantine has been imposed… If you are found in violation of this order you can be fined, imprisoned, or even shot… Food will eventually be dropped at your doorstep” (message repeating)

Essentially at one point people will get hungry and from there chaos will ensue.

Shepard Ambellas host of The Intellihub Radio Show once asked a military caller on air what they would do in a pandemic situation (like the one laid out above).

The caller replied;

“That would be a tough one.”

Further Research and Sources:

Obama Admin Cites ‘Int’l Permission,’ Not Congress, As ‘Legal Basis’ For Action In Syria

http://youtu.be/5zNwOeyuG84

Uploaded by SenatorSessions on Mar 7, 2012

WASHINGTON, March 7—Under question from Sen. Sessions at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey indicated that “international permission,” rather than Congressional approval, provided a ‘legal basis’ for military action by the United States.

Selected Executive Orders on National Security

Is the Soros-Sponsored ‘Agenda 21’ a Hidden Plan for World Government? (Yes, Only it Is Not Hidden)

What is Agenda 21? If you do not know about it, you should.

Agenda 21 is a two-decade old, grand plan for global ’Sustainable Development,’ brought to you from the United Nations. George H.W. Bush (and 177 other world leaders) agreed to it back in 1992, and in 1995, Bill Clinton signed Executive Order #12858, creating a Presidential Council on ‘Sustainable Development.’ This effectively pushed the UN plan into America’s large, churning government machine without the need for any review or discussion by Congress or the American people.

‘Sustainable Development’ sounds like a nice idea, right? It sounds nice, until you scratch the surface and find that Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development are really cloaked plans to impose the tenets of Social Justice/Socialism on the world.

At risk from Agenda 21;

Private Property ownership

Single-Family homes

Private car ownership and individual travel choices

Privately owned farms

The Agenda 21 plan openly targets private property. For over thirty-five years the UN has made their stance very clear on the issue of individuals owning land;

Land… cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes. The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interest of society as a whole.

Source: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat I),Vancouver, BC, May 31 – June 11, 1976. Preamble to Agenda Item 10 of the Conference Report.

There are two more, very good reasons to be wary of Agenda 21 and the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) that supports it: George Soros and the United Nations. Soros money has been tracked to funding parts of ICLEI ;

In 1997, George Soros’s Open Society gave ICLEI a $ 2,147,415 grant to support its Local Agenda 21 Project

Creating a Force for Peace Operations: Ensuring Stability with Justice

The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC®)

Creation of a US force for stability is consistent with statements by senior officials in the Bush Administration and expressions of congressional interest in creating effective US forces to handle peacekeeping missions. Even before

taking office, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said the incoming Administration would “think hard” about developing forces to perform police functions and might replace soldiers with international police to perform peacekeeping missions.

7 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told European defense ministers in Brussels on 18 December 2001 that NATO forces in Bosnia should be replaced by an armed European constabulary unit that would deal with organized crime.

8 Such Administration thinking seems to parallel similar thoughts in Congress. The United Nations Rapid Deployment Act of 2001 (HR 938), which was introduced by Representative James McGovern with 17 cosponsors, calls for the

President to help establish aUNRapid Deployment Police and Security Force, utilizing the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams as part of Rapid Deployment Brigades.

DoD Memorandum, June 4, 2004, signed by Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense

http://www.un.org/en/peace/index.shtml

DPKO provides political and executive direction to UN Peacekeeping operations around the world and maintains contact with the Security Council, troop and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict in the implementation of Security Council mandates.

United Nations Peacekeeping Group Chart

Troop and police contributors

Our military and police personnel are first and foremost members of their own national services and are then seconded to work with the UN.

UN Summary of Military and Police Contributions 2005 – 2012

Peacekeeping operations

A peacekeeping operation is led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and works to create the conditions for lasting peace in a country torn by conflict.

The following survey was given to U.S. Marines at the 29 Palms Marine Corps base in California:
DD Form 3206 (Rev 2/96)JOINT SERVICES TRAINING COMBAT ARMS SURVEYPart A (Confidential when filled in)This questionnaire is to gather data concerning the attitudes of combat trained personnel with regard to non-traditional missions. All responses are confidential and official. Write your answers directly on the form. In Part II, place an “X” in the space provided for your response.Date:_____________Part 1. Demographics.1. Branch of Service: Army ( ) USAF ( ) Navy ( ) Marines ( ) ANG ( ) NG ( ) USCG ( ) Other: ( )2. Pay Grade: (E-6, O-4, etc) ( )3. MOS, AFSC or Specialty Code and Description: ( )4. Highest level of education: Less than 12 ( ) 13 ( ) 14 ( ) 15 ( ) (16) ( ) More than 16 ( )5. How many months did you serve in Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield?( )6. How many months did you serve in Somalia? ( )

7. Where did you spend most of your childhood?

City: ( ); County: ( ) State: ( )

Part II. Attitude:

Do you feel that U.S. combat troops should be used within the U.S. and bordering countries for any of the following missions?

(Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly Agree) (No Opinion)

8. Drug enforcement

9. Disaster relief (e.g. hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes)

10. Security at national events (e.g. Olympic Games, Super Bowl)

11. Environmental disaster clean-up including toxic and nuclear

12. Substitute teachers and school workers in public schools

13. Community assistance programs (e.g. landscaping, environmental clean-up,road repair, animal control)

14. Federal and State prison guards and auxiliary police

15. National emergency police force/international security force

16. Advisors to SWAT units, the FBI, or the BATF

17. Border Patrol (e.g. prevention of entry of illegal aliens into U.S. territory)

18. Drug enforcement and interdiction

19. Disaster relief in bordering countries (e.g. hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc.)

20. Environmental disaster clean-up in bordering countries including toxic and nuclear.

21. Peace keeping and local law enforcement and internal security forces

22. National building (reconstruct civil governments, develop public school system, develop or improve public transportation system, etc.)

23. Humanitarian relief (e.g. food and medical supplies, temporary housing and clothing and domestic care).

Do you feel that U.S. combat troops should be used in other countries, under command of non-U.S. officers appointed by the U.N. for any of the following missions?

24. Drug enforcement.

25. Disaster relief (e.g. hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes)

26. Environmental disaster clean-up including toxic and nuclear.

27. Peace keeping including local law enforcement and internal security forces

28. National building (reconstruct civil government, develop public school system, develop or improve public transportation system, etc.

29. Humanitarian relief (e.g. food and medical supplies, temporary housing and clothing and domestic care)

30. Police action (e.g. Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm but serving under non-U.S. officers)

31. The U.S. runs a field training exercise. U.N. combat troops should be allowed to serve in U.S. combat units during these exercises under U.S. command and control.

32. The U.N. runs a field training exercise. U.S. combat troops under U.S. command and control should serve in U.N. combat units during these exercises

33. The U.N. runs a field training exercise. U. S. combat troops should serve under U.N. command and control.

34. U.S. combat troops should participate in U.N.missions as long as the U.S. has full command and control.

35. U.S. combat troops should participate in U.N. missions under U.N. command and control.

36. U.S. combat troops should be commanded by U.N. officers and non- commissioned officers at battalion, wing and company levels while performing U.N. missions.

37. It would make no difference to me to have U.N. soldiers as members of my team.

38. It would make no difference to me to take orders from a U.N. company or squadron commander.

39. I feel the President of the U.S. has the authority to pass his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief to the U.N. Secretary General.

40. I feel there is no conflict between my oath of office and serving as a U.N. soldier.

41. I feel my unit’s combat effectiveness would not be affected by performing huminatarian and peace keeping missions for the U.N.

42. I feel a designated unit of U.S. combat soldiers should be permanently assigned to the command and control of the U.N.

43. I would be willing to volunteer for assignment to a U.S. combat unit under a U.N. commander.

44. I would like U.N. member countries, including the U.S., to give the U.N. all the soldiers necessary to maintain world peace.

45. I would swear to the following code:

“I am a United Nations fighting person. I serve in the forces which maintain world peace and every nation’s way of life. I swear and affirm to support and defend the Charter of the United Nations and I am prepared to give my life in its defense.”

46. The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-approved firearms. A 30-day amnesty period is established for these firearms to be turned over to the local authorities. At the end of this period, a number of irregular citizen groups and defiant individuals refuse to turn over their firearms to authority.

Consider the following statement:

“I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the United States government.”

End of Survey

Originally posted in 2012.

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Will U.S. Troops Fire On American Citizens?

Friday, April 26, 2013

Colorado Appeals Court Rules Employers Can Fire Marijuana Users

Colorado employers can legally fire marijuana users from their jobs, the state Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a 2-1 decision.

by Phillip Smith
Drug War Chronicle
April 26, 2013

Although the case was brought by a medical marijuana user, the ruling will have any even broader impact given that the state has now legalized marijuana for all adults.

Coats challenged his firing, citing Colorado’s Lawful Activities statute, which prohibits employers from firing workers for “engaging in any legal activity off the premises of the employer during nonworking hours.” But both the trial court and now the appeals court rejected his challenge, holding that because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Lawful Activities statute does not apply.

“For an activity to be lawful in Colorado, it must be permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law,” the appeals court said.

Judge John Webb dissented, saying he could not find a case addressing whether Colorado judges must consider federal law in determining the meaning of the Colorado statute.

Coats’ attorney, Michael Evans, said in a statement that the ruling will have a broad impact in the state.

“This case not only impacts Mr. Coats, but also some 127,816 medical marijuana patient-employees in Colorado who could be summarily terminated even if they are in legal compliance with Colorado state law,” Evans said.

And with adult marijuana legalization now in place in the state, it is not just medical marijuana users who stand to be affected.

The ruling is expected to be appealed.

Similar rulings allowing employers to fire medical marijuana users have been upheld by courts in other states, including California, Michigan, and Montana.

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Colorado Appeals Court Rules Employers Can Fire Marijuana Users

Survivor of Bangladesh"s Tazreen Factory Fire Urges U.S. Retailers to Stop Blocking Worker Safety

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We continue to look at worker conditions in Bangladesh, as we turn to new revelations about the fire that killed 112 workers in a garment factory near the capital of Dhaka last November. Investigators confirmed workers’ descriptions of locked emergency exits. Until Wednesday’s building collapse, that fire was the worst industrial accident in the country’s history. These are some of the young seamstresses who escaped the inferno.

PARUL BEGUM: [translated] How the factory fire caught, I don’t know that. But when we heard “Fire!” we all rushed and were trying to get out of the factory. The factory worker broke a window, and one of the workers pulled me through the window. Immediately after the fire broke, we tried to run out, but the door was locked. When the floor became dark because of smoke, the boys rescued me.

NILMA: [translated] When the building caught fire, I didn’t know, and many of us didn’t know, because soon after the fire, the total floor was full of smoke, and we couldn’t see anything then. And there was a chamber. We ran there, and all the workers broke the windows of the chamber, and we all could get out through that window.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined again by Kalpona Akter, still with us in San Francisco, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity. We are also joined—sitting next to her is Sumi Abedin, a worker who survived the fire at the Tazreen factory. She jumped from the factory’s third story, breaking both her arm and foot in the process. They’re on tour in the United States calling on retailers like Wal-Mart, The Gap and Disney to take the lead on improving working conditions in Bangladesh. Kalpona will translate for Sumi. Charlie Kernaghan is still with us in Pittsburgh.

Sumi, welcome to Democracy Now! Tell us how you survived the factory fire that made clothes for Wal-Mart and other companies in November?

SUMI ABEDIN: [translated] Like other day, on November 24th, I came into the factory in the morning, and I worked up to lunch. And I went outside to take lunch and came back, and work continued to 6:30. After 6:30, one worker came into my production floor in fourth floor and screamed, “There’s a fire in the factory!” He smelled a smoke when he was in toilet. So, by hearing this, we were rushed to the doors to escape, but the factory manager, line chief and supervisors, they shouted at us and said, “There is no fire! It is a lie!” And they locked the door.

OK, so, after working five to seven minutes, I smelled a smoke, and that was coming from downstairs. And I got panicky, and I understood there is a fire in the factory. And I ran to the doors, the stairs, and found that it’s padlocked. And then I was running here and there to escape from the factory, but couldn’t find anything. And the smoke was coming from the downstairs. And then I ran to the other stairs, which using by the man workers, and found that it’s open, and I was able to go to the second floor. But as all workers using same stairs, many of them I saw stampeded, and they were falling in the stairs. When I was on the second floor, I saw the downstair is blocked by the fire, and I understood I couldn’t escape from these areas then.

Meanwhile, the power gone, I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t even breathe. Then, some of my co-workers have cellphone, and following them, I was able to come in—following their cellphone light, I was able to come in the third production floor, on the third floor, where I saw many workers suffocated, many of my co-workers, and falling on the stairs. And I was just crying and screaming and asking for help, and I’m looking how I can escape.

Then I saw some of my co-workers trying to remove the window bar from the windows. And one of the mechanic, he’s trying to remove the adjustment bar from ventilation hole. And after hard try, he could able to do that. And then he jumped from that adjustment hole. And after he and one of my—I saw one of my co-workers jumped. And then I jumped. I never thought that I will survive. I didn’t jump to save my life; I did jump to save my body, because if I would be in the factory, I would be burned to ash, and my family even couldn’t identify my body. So I jumped—at least my parents can identify my body.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Kalpona, if you could ask her, how old is Sumi Abedin? How long had she been working in the factory? And what she was getting paid?

SUMI ABEDIN: [translated] I’m 24 years old, and I worked at Tazreen one year and eight months. And I was making $ 55 per month as a senior sewing machine operator. And including overtime, I was making $ 60 to $ 65, being working 11 to 13 hours per day and six days in a week, sometimes seven days.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Sumi Abedin, why are you in the United States? What do you want people in the United States to do?

SUMI ABEDIN: [translated] In my factory, I made clothes for Wal-Mart, Sean Combs, Disney, along with others. Once upon a time, we also made clothes for Gap. And I’m here to ask to them to pay the full and fair compensation to us and, in the same time, to ensure the factory fire safety in Bangladesh.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Kalpona, I’d like to ask you about this compensation issue. There was a recent attempt in a meeting in Europe to create a compensation fund, and all of the major American companies that were producing there at Tazreen—Wal-Mart, Gap, Disney—all boycotted and refused to get involved in any compensation fund. Is that accurate?

KALPONA AKTER: This is totally accurate. The meeting has happened in Geneva April 15th, where four of the European brands, they participated. One of them was over phone. But all the U.S. retailers—like Wal-Mart; Sean Combs; Soffe, who was one of the sourcing companies from Tazreen; Dickies; Disney; Sears—all of them, they denied to, you know, participate in this meeting. So, in this meeting, there was a—you know, discussion was to pay the compensation to the workers. But none of the U.S. brands has been participated, it is accurate.

AMY GOODMAN: Workers at the factory made clothes for several Wal-Mart suppliers. After the fire, Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke said the company is working with factories to improve standards and has offered training sessions throughout Bangladesh.

MIKE DUKE: I believe over 3,000 factories went through the training that was developed, including fire safety and the standards even for the associates to know, and then, in 2012, even raising the bar more with even additional audits and additional focus. You know, and unfortunately, you know, this particular factory was one of the ones that had been decertified and was one that Wal-Mart did not use as an authorized—you know, I will tell you that the particular supplier, when we found out had used an unauthorized factory, we took swift action. We terminated our relationship with that supplier, would no longer purchase any product. But with all of that, we’re still stepping back again and saying, “What else can we do?”

AMY GOODMAN: Charlie Kernaghan, that’s the CEO of Wal-Mart asking, “What else can we do?” From the Tazreen fire to today’s horrific tragedy, over 200 people dead at the building collapse and a thousand wounded, Duke asks, “What else can we do?”

CHARLES KERNAGHAN: Well, it’s a situation—excuse me—where the bottom has fallen out. The workers themselves, the unions are talking about a general strike, talking about going after the U.S. government generalized system of preferences, because we need to establish some laws so that the workers are not trapped in these factories. As far as I know, Wal-Mart has done nothing to improve factory conditions. They go for the lowest price. They said there weren’t in the Tazreen factory, but of course they were in the Tazreen factory. This is happening repeatedly. And now Wal-Mart is saying, “Well, we may have been also in the Rana Plaza collapse.” So, they really don’t know where their garments are going. There’s tremendous corruption and graft. This has to—this has to stop.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Charlie, I wanted to ask you—you’ve been a veteran advocate about this situation of exploitation of workers in the Third World. I’ve interviewed you over 30 years now, from Haiti to Honduras, Salvador, China, and now increasingly Bangladesh. Yet we have here an administration in the White House right now that benefits from enormous American union support. What is this administration doing to assure some basic decent conditions with these morally bankrupt companies that continue to find ways to exploit labor in the Third World?

CHARLES KERNAGHAN: Honestly, I can’t say anything positive. I know we’ve tried, and like other people, to work with the U.S. trade representative’s office. But all we see are disasters. Whether it’s in Guatemala, whether it’s in Honduras, workers are being fired right and left when they try to organize a union—Bangladesh. In other words, they say that they have this—these laws to protect the rights of workers, and they always talk about the ILO, the International Labor Organization’s standards—no child labor, no forced labor, freedom of association, right to organize a union, right to bargain collectively. All it is is words. They never implement anything. So, if the workers are being killed in Guatemala and fired and cheated of their wages, it all goes on. There’s no changes.

And so, we have to get serious. This collapse of this factory—by the way, the person from Tazreen, as far as I know, Delwar Hossain, is walking away scot-free. And the owner of the Rana Plaza, Sohel Rana, apparently has disappeared. And they’re going to go away scot-free. They’re not going to do any jail time. We have to, you know, stop this, and we have to demand more of our own government. We have to demand that the United States trade representative’s office will actually try to implement the laws, and if not, there’s going to be penalties for these companies.

AMY GOODMAN: What about this boycotting of the European meeting where safety issues would be discussed, that Juan and Kalpona were just talking about, Charlie Kernaghan?

CHARLES KERNAGHAN: Yeah, I mean, the starkness of these killings, whether it’s the 112 who were burned to death in Tazreen or whether it’s the collapse of the Rana Plaza where the death toll is going to vastly exceed the 210 that are already known to be dead, 600, 700, 800 people still trapped, this isn’t a game. We need to do something that’s very, very concrete. We don’t exist to take care of the labels, and we don’t exist to take care of Wal-Mart’s profits. What we need are worker rights. And we don’t get those from Wal-Mart. We get those from unions and from union organizing. And Bangladesh is going to have to allow workers to organize independent unions. Every time a union has tried to organize, the thugs come in, the gangsters come in, the gangs come in. They beat the workers up. We have to say, as a country, if we’re the United States and we’re one of the largest importers of these goods from Bangladesh, we have a voice. And we need the workers in Bangladesh to have their right to organize a union. They have a right to have freedom and democracy. They have a right to speak out. And they have a right to demand change. And, I mean, if we keep talking to Wal-Mart, we’re going nowhere. It’s the workers need their rights. That’s what we really need.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to have to end it there. We thank you all for being with us, Charlie Kernaghan, joining us from Pittsburgh, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, and speaking to us from San Francisco, Kalpona Akter with the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity and Sumi Abedin, who is a survivor of the fire in Bangladesh that killed at least 112 garment workers last November. Together they’re touring the U.S. to talk about unsafe working conditions in Bangladesh and to demand workers be compensated. Thanks so much for joining us. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. We’ll be back in a minute.